Cooling a data center

Abstract

Techniques for cooling a data center include circulating a first cooling medium to cool a plurality of rack-mounted computers; circulating a second cooling medium to cool the plurality of rack-mounted computers; determining that a first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers is operating at a power usage above a threshold power usage; adjusting at least one of a flow rate of the first or second cooling mediums to cool a second portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers; and rerouting a portion at least one the first or second cooling mediums to cool the first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for cooling a data center, the method comprising:
 circulating a cooling airflow to cool a plurality of computing devices supported in racks in a data center; 
 monitoring power usage of the plurality of computing devices; 
 determining that a first portion of the plurality of computing devices are operating at a power usage above a threshold power usage; and 
 based on the determination:
 decreasing a flow rate of a portion of a cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool a second portion of the plurality of computing devices that are operating at a power usage below the threshold power usage; 
 based on decreasing the flow rate of the portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the second portion of the plurality of computing devices, increasing a portion of the cooling airflow circulated to cool the second portion of the plurality of computing devices such that a rate of heat removal from the second portion of the plurality of computing devices remains substantially constant; and 
 rerouting at least some of the portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the second portion of the plurality of computing devices to increase a flow rate of a portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the first portion of the plurality of computing devices such that a rate of heat removal from the first portion of the plurality of computing devices increases. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein monitoring power usage of the plurality of computing devices comprises monitoring a utilization of each of the plurality of computing devices. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the threshold power usage corresponds to an adjustable threshold utilization that is a particular percentage of a maximum utilization. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the adjustable threshold utilization is about 70% of maximum utilization. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 3 , wherein utilization comprises CPU utilization of the plurality of computing devices. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 monitoring a temperature at or near the first portion of the plurality of computing devices; and 
 subsequent to increasing flow rate of a portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the first portion of the plurality of computing devices, determining that the temperature remains substantially constant or that the temperature rises at or near the first portion of the plurality of computing devices. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 based on the determination that the temperature remains substantially constant or that the temperature rises at or near the first portion of the plurality of computing devices, increasing a portion of the cooling airflow circulated to cool the first portion of the plurality of computing devices such that the rate of heat removal from the first portion of the plurality of computing devices further increases. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining that the first portion of the plurality of computing devices are operating at a power usage at or below the threshold power usage for a predetermined time duration, or that the first portion of the plurality of computing devices are operating at a power usage at a particular setpoint below the threshold power usage. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 based on the determination, decreasing the flow rate of the portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the first portion of the plurality of computing devices; and 
 modulating an airflow circulated to cool the first portion of the plurality of computing devices to maintain the rate of heat removal from the first portion of the plurality of computing devices. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data center comprises a cooling capacity that is less than a cooling load required to cool all of the plurality of computing devices operating at a maximum power draw. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 deploying an additional plurality of computing devices supported in racks in the data center. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the plurality of computing devices and the second portion of the plurality of computing devices are located in different racks positioned in the data center. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the different racks are located in different rows of racks positioned in the data center. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein a cooling power capacity of the data center cooling liquid supply volume is less than a heat output from the plurality of computing devices supported in racks in the data center operating at 100% utilization. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14 , wherein a sum of the cooling power capacity of the data center cooling liquid supply volume and a cooling power capacity of a total cooling airflow volumetric flow rate exceeds the heat output from the plurality of computing devices supported in racks in the data center operating at 100% utilization. 
     
     
       16. A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
 controlling a circulation of a cooling airflow to cool a plurality of computing devices supported in racks in a data center; 
 monitoring power usage of the plurality of computing devices; 
 determining that a first portion of the plurality of computing devices are operating at a power usage above a threshold power usage; and 
 based on the determination:
 controlling one or more flow control devices to decrease a flow rate of a portion of a cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool a second portion of the plurality of computing devices that are operating at a power usage below the threshold power usage; 
 based on controlling the one or more flow control devices to decrease the flow rate of the portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the second portion of the plurality of computing devices, controlling one or more fans to increase a portion of the cooling airflow circulated to cool the second portion of the plurality of computing devices such that a rate of heat removal from the second portion of the plurality of computing devices remains substantially constant; and 
 controlling one or more flow control devices to reroute at least some of the portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the second portion of the plurality of computing devices to increase a flow rate of a portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the first portion of the plurality of computing devices such that a rate of heat removal from the first portion of the plurality of computing devices increases. 
 
 
     
     
       17. The computer storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein monitoring power usage of the plurality of computing devices comprises monitoring a utilization of each of the plurality of computing devices. 
     
     
       18. The computer storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein the threshold power usage corresponds to an adjustable threshold utilization that is a particular percentage of a maximum utilization. 
     
     
       19. A data center cooling management system, comprising:
 a plurality of rack-mounted computers; 
 one or more cooling modules positioned near the plurality of rack-mounted computers; and 
 a control system comprising one or more sensors and one or more flow control devices, the control system operable to perform operations comprising:
 controlling one or more cooling modules to circulate a cooling airflow to cool the plurality of rack-mounted computers; 
 monitoring, with the one or more sensors, power usage of the plurality of rack-mounted computers; 
 determining, with the one or more sensors, that a first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers are operating at a power usage above a threshold power usage; and 
 based on the determination:
 controlling the one or more flow control devices to decrease a flow rate of a portion of a cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool a second portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers that are operating at a power usage below the threshold power usage; 
 based on controlling the one or more flow control devices to decrease the flow rate of the portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the second portion of the plurality of computing devices, controlling the one or more cooling modules to increase a portion of the cooling airflow circulated to cool the second portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers such that a rate of heat removal from the second portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers remains substantially constant; and 
 controlling the one or more flow control devices to circulate at least some of the portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the second portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers to increase a flow rate of a portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers such that a rate of heat removal from the first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers increases. 
 
 
 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 19 , wherein monitoring power usage of the plurality of rack-mounted computers comprises monitoring a utilization of each of the plurality of rack-mounted computers. 
     
     
       21. The system of  claim 19 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 monitoring, with the one or more sensors, a temperature at or near the first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers; and 
 subsequent to increasing flow rate of a portion of the cooling liquid in the data center that is circulated to cool the first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers, determining that the temperature remains substantially constant or that the temperature rises at or near the first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers. 
 
     
     
       22. A method for cooling a data center, the method comprising:
 circulating a first cooling medium to cool a plurality of rack-mounted computers; 
 circulating a second cooling medium to cool the plurality of rack-mounted computers; 
 determining that a first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers is operating at a power usage above a threshold power usage; 
 based on the determination that the first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers is operating at the power usage above the threshold power usage, adjusting a flow rate of at least one of the first or second cooling mediums to cool a second portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers that is operating at a power usage at or below the threshold power usage; 
 rerouting a portion of the at least one of the first or second cooling mediums from being circulated to the second portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers to cool the first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers; and 
 augmenting another portion of the at least one of the first or second cooling mediums used to cool the first portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers with the rerouted portion of the at least one of the first or second cooling mediums. 
 
     
     
       23. The method of  claim 22 , further comprising:
 determining that the second portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers is operating at a power usage below a threshold power usage. 
 
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 22 , wherein the first cooling medium is a cooling airflow and the second cooling medium is a cooling liquid. 
     
     
       25. The method of  claim 24 , wherein adjusting at least one of a flow rate of the first or second cooling mediums to cool a second portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers comprises:
 increasing a flow rate of the cooling airflow to cool the second portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers; and 
 decreasing a flow rate of the cooling liquid to cool the second portion of the plurality of rack-mounted computers. 
 
     
     
       26. The method of  claim 22 , wherein circulating a second cooling medium to cool the plurality of rack-mounted computers comprises:
 circulating, to the data center, a cooling liquid flow from one or more central plants that comprise a cooling capacity less than a maximum cooling capacity required to cool the plurality of rack-mounted computers operating at a maximum power load.